The US state
department is probing the whereabouts of a nearly $6,000 whiskey bottle gifted
by the Japanese government to the then US secretary of state Mike Pompeo, the
department said on Wednesday.

In a notice filed
in the federal register, the state department said that it has not found any
trace of the bottle and that there is an “ongoing inquiry” into what happened.

The state
department reported the investigation in its annual accounting of gifts given
to senior US officials by foreign governments and leaders.

The state
department’s office of protocol is required to make a record of gifts given to
US officials and keep a track of their disposition.

Gift recipients
may either purchase them for personal use by reimbursing the treasury
department for their value or turn over the gifts to the National Archive or
any other government entity.  

The whiskey gifted
by Japan to Mike Pompeo was valued at $5,800. It was presented to him in July
of 2019, presumably when he visited Japan for a Group 20 summit that was also
attended by then President Donald Trump.

“The department is
looking into the matter and has an ongoing inquiry,” the federal register notice
stated, but offered no additional detail.

The matter of the
whiskey came to light during the US state department’s annual accounting of
gifts given to senior US officials by foreign governments and leaders.

Mike Pompeo also reported
having received two carpets worth a total of $19,400 from the foreign minister
of the United Arab Emirates and the president of Kazakhstan. Both the carpets
were sent to the General Services Administration, according to the federal
notice.

The filing further
said that President Trump and his wife Melania had received more than $120,000 worth
of gifts from foreign leaders in 2019, including at least three portraits of
him.